Retail customers, particularly for relatively large ticket items such as televisions, high-fidelity systems, appliances, cameras and the like, are generally concerned when they make a purchase that they are getting the best price. This may result in the customer visiting a number of retail dealers before making a purchase decision and the customer delaying the purchase in the hope that the price of the product will go down so that they can obtain a better buy.
However, for the retailer, once the customer leaves the store without making a purchase, there is a very good chance that the sale has been lost. Stores have therefore tried to ease the customer's concern that they will not obtain the best price by offering various types of price protection policies. Typically such policies guarantee the customer that if the same product is advertised for sale by another retailer within the geographic area where the purchase is being made at a lower price within some specified time period, for example thirty (30) to sixty (60) days, the customer can obtain a rebate of the difference between the advertised and the purchase price by bringing the advertisement and his sales slip to the dealer. However, such programs are only marginally attractive to potential customers since they require the customer to monitor competitive advertisements over the period, something which few customers have the time, patience or capability of doing. They also require the customer to travel to the dealer, which may be located at some distance from the customer, and involve a substantial amount of the customer's time. Saving documents is also a problem as is determining if the purchased and advertised products are in fact the same from the limited information in many advertisements. Therefore, unless the difference in price is substantial, customers frequently do not take advantage of such programs.
A need, therefore, exists for an improved price protection program for retail customers which does not require substantial time and effort on the part of the customer, yet assures the customer that if the product is advertised for a lower price during a specified period after the purchase, he will automatically obtain the benefit of such lower advertised price.